Mia Fey, the Story
by Missile.x
Summary: Follows Mia Fey's life as it potentially could have been, up to her unfortunate demise. Only consistant pairing is, of course, Mia/Diego.
1. A bad first day

_**Mia Fey – The story **_**sound familiar? That's probably because all forty-one chapters were posted on . Anyway, I couldn't see the harm in slowly re-posting them on here, I haven't written anything new on this story in a year, but if I remember where I was going with this story, I'd like to at least cover up to Diego's death. **

**I don't know how many people will actually be interested in this, I mean, it's a pretty darn long story and not even close to finished at chapter forty-one. So if I don't receive a lot of interest there's a good chance I won't bother with the rest. Especially since all chapters need editing. Apparently, I used to think full-stops were unnecessary at the end of speech (and I thought my grammar was bad now!) Obviously, that's not blackmail or anything, it's just a case of "I don't want to edit forty chapters if no one's reading it." **

Anyway, hope anyone who reads this likes it/ will want to review it.

A bad first day

Mia brushed her soaked fringe out of her eyes and took deep breath to calm herself as she stood in the foyer her of "The Grossberg criminal defense law firm" The deep breath had not worked for she still felt as tense and nervous as she had before but knew there was no turning back.

_My first day at an actual law firm_ she thought to herself as she stood at the desk waiting to speak for someone _I can't believe I'm finally here! I guess all that hard work really did pay off_ She leaned on the black marble counter and rested her chin on her palm, waiting for the receptionist to notice her. As she glanced along she noticed that a young blonde receptionist was in fact busy talking to a tall man, wearing a bright red shirt with a black striped waistcoat over the top. They appeared to be having a conversation about the weather. Mia edged closer hoping that they might notice her and perhaps the receptionist might get on with her job but instead they just continued:

"Yes, you're completely right, the weather is truly dreadful but I must say being greeted by you Penny has certainly brightened my spirits." he said in a deep manly voice, now also resting on the counter leaning closer to the now blushing receptionist.

She giggled and replied "Oh Mr. Armando, is there anything I can get you before you head upstairs to your office?"

Mia saw him flash Penny charming smile and reply "Well…" he paused "No…it's fine." he picked up the papers that lay on the counter but Penny had already grabbed his arm.

"Go on…Mr. Armando. Whatever it is I really don't mind getting you it."

"Please, call me Diego…I don't suppose you could get me a coffee, black of course, black as a starless night?"

This seemed to prove too much for the receptionist as she now swooned and gulped for air "A-anything you want…Mr. A- I mean Diego".

Mia was now seething as he leaned a little closer towards Penny and lowered his voice; only a little so Mia could still hear it.

"You know…I've only been working here a few months and yet I feel you're already my favourite person here." And with that he winked at Penny, picked up his papers again and turned around to head off to his office before doing a double take when he saw Mia.

She scowled at him, feeling outraged she had been forced to wait all this time while he flirted with the receptionists but her scowl did not at all have the effect she had hoped for as he instead of returning it; looked her up and down and smiled out of the corner of his mouth smugly. He winked and walked straight past her leaving her angrier than ever.

Proceeding towards the receptionist who had, at last seemed to notice her, Mia once again took a deep breath and started to say "Hi, I'm Mia-"

But the receptionist had not yet recovered from her exciting conversation with Mr. Armando and instead ignored what she had said and cut across her with- "He's so…"

What "Mr. Armando was…" Mia didn't find out (Well at least not what the receptionist thought he was. Mia came up with many different ends to that sentence but in the end stuck with the tamest one which was "Un-professional").

Instead of finishing the sentence with her own word, Mia just raised her eyebrows and repeated "Mia Fey, I'm here as the new apprentice.".

"Oh…" Mia saw Penny finally realize what she said and snap out of her daydream as "Oh! Ah yes of course… I'll just get you Mr. Arm- I-I mean Mr. Grossberg."

As she saw Penny disappear through the door behind the counter, Mia drummed her fingers on it, now feeling very impatient. So far this wasn't turning out how she had hoped. She had worked so hard to get to work at an actual law firm and had been so shocked when she had got the apprentice-ship. How was she going to find out what had happened to her mother working with such annoying or smarmy people?

After a moment Penny returned, with a professional smile and beckoned for Mia to follow her through the door that Mr. Armando had walked through previously.

"Horrible weather outside isn't it?" Penny asked making conversation "Well I can imagine you know that." she laughed looking at Mia who looked like she'd stepped out of the shower, but left her clothes on.

Deciding that first impressions could be wrong, Mia obliged and replied "Well, when I left the flat it wasn't raining." Now Mia herself looked at her appearance in a passing mirror "I look such a mess…and on my first day too!" she exclaimed plucking at her soaking wet suit".

"You…you don't look that bad." Penny squirmed, clearly lying.

"Thanks but I know I do really." Mia attempted to tidy herself up a little wiping smudged mascara from under her eyes and running her hand through her messy hair.

The receptionist stopped for a moment and lead Mia through a door which Mia expected to be Marvin Grossberg's office but instead, much to her surprise a girl's bathroom.

"Here I have some makeup remover for that mascara and then you can redo it…And here I also have a brush." She handed her the objects from her handbag and Mia got to work quickly. When she had finished she concluded she did at least have neat makeup and hair. She looked presentable.

"Thank you so much." she said and meaning it to.

"It's fine, I would hate for your first day here to be a bad one." Penny smiled as they left, turned down another hallway, passed a door with a golden plaque reading "Robbert Hammond-Attorney at law." and then final at the end of the corridor "Marvin Grossberg-Attorney at law."

"Here we are Miss. Fey, Mr. Grossberg should be in there waiting for you. Tell me of you need anything." And with that Penny turned around and walked down the corridor leaving Mia stood outside. She knocked and waited for a reply.

"Just a minute!" she heard a voice reply and then continue to talk more quietly, once again, just loud enough for Mia to hear. Trying to fight the temptation to listen in on the conversation she closed her eyes and counted to ten. This was a method she did to calm her self and in this case; distract her self. Unfortunately, it did not work. She leaned closer putting her ear against. After all, if they wanted to keep what they were discussing a secret why would they walk so loud?

"A convict who's escaped death row, you're kidding me right? Any attorney who takes that case would have to mad." Said a voice she recognized as Mr. Armando's.

"Exactly why I'm not sure I want to take it." another (closely resembling Marvin Grossbergs) replied. "But _you_, you're good. I've heard how well you've been doing in you're cases and you're still only new here."

"Grossberg, I'm not stupid. I'm good, I know that but I've looked over the case file. The man could be innocent but there's no proof. At my point in the career it would be suicide for me to take the case. Sorry."

"Very well, I can see you're clearly convinced you would not win. I will consider it some more but likely turn down the request."

Without any warning the door burst open catching Mia (who had been leaning against it) of guard, pushing her to the floor as Mr. Armando walked out.

Clearly he had been caught a little of guard and had not been expecting to find a young women lying on the floor as he left the office.

"Having a good listen were we?" He said after recovering from shock and finding his smug demeanor again.

She did not reply but felt her cheeks begin to glow red.

He sniggered "Ah well, no harm done. You do work here now." He offered her his hand to help her up. She took it noticing, for the first time his incredibly tanned complexion. She gulped trying to think of something clever to say but her wit failed her and instead she just came out with a rather lame, stuttered "Thanks." as he walked off down the corridor.

She knocked again and heard the voice; this time reply "Come in." Mia turned the door handle a pushed the door entering the office. The first thing she noticed, of course was an incredibly garish, large painting of a man, wearing a wide brimmed hat sitting upon a rock, with a bright orange, glowing sun behind him. She decided she liked the painting, despite it being garish it was also colourful and because of the orange colour scheme seemed to radiate warmth to the also cosy office.

"Ah, Mia sorry about the wait." Mr. Grosseberg said shocking Mia that _someone_ had actually apologized for making her wait.

"It's fine Mr. Grossberg, don't worry about it." she said with an honest looking smile on her face.

"I see you got caught in the rain. Hope you're not to cold to work!" He laughed. Mia had a slight feeling he was only half joking and so assured him-

"N-no, I'm fine! I'll dry off after all, don't worry!" though she was actually having to fight back the shivers.

"Good, good…" he trailed off noticing that Mia's glance has now turned back towards the painting on his wall "I see you've noticed my painting?"

_How could I not notice it?_ she thought but instead said "Yes, I like how it almost seems to warm up the office."

"Why thank you, I'm sorry but it's not for sale so you can't buy it though"

Mia had of course merely been commenting on how she liked the painting but decided it was maybe a good idea to act disappointed rather than point out that she didn't like it _that_ much.

"What a shame" she said lamely before trying to steer the conversation away from the painting he was so clearly protective over. "So what will I be doing?"

"Well first of all I want you to look over these case files for me, Mr. Hammond who is another one of your colleagues, though he tends to keep to himself and Mr. Armando, who I think you have already met?" He handed her a huge pile of important looking documents. "When you've done that I'd like to you to look over who's in charge of each case and report to them informing them of all the details. If it's me I'll probably ask you to tell me if you notice anything about the case for practice when I think you're ready to take on a case of your own" he paused "Is…everything okay, Ms. Fey?"

Mia once again gulped for air as she looked down at the huge pile of paperwork before her. "Yes. Yes Mr. Grossberg. Just fine, I mean…It seems like an awful lot of work but...hey, that's why I'm here right?" she said trying to make her voice sound calm and express how she was "Just fine.".

She lifted the pile once more and turned around to ask one final thing "Do I have and office…I was just wondering, It's fine if I don't, I'm not expecting one I just wanted to know…that's all."

Mr. Grossberg sat up a little and narrowed his eyes moving his moustache from side to side a little. Mia automatically began to regret asking; clearly Grossberg was shocked at an apprentice asking whether they had an office or not.

"Of course you have an office! Where did you think I was going to have you working, the floor in reception?" He let out a mighty laugh. Down the corridor, turn right, go down the small set of stairs and it's the first door on the left."

Mia nodded and left the office staggering with the many documents she was holding but once again stopped by something she could not see (due to the pile of documents so high it was covering her eyes).

"Hello behind there, need help with those?" the thing stopping her for walking said. "Why with all those documents, you would be able to listen to people private conversations, how will you manage?"

"I wasn't listening I was...just leaning against the door" she replied still unable to see him, though she now knew it was the smug face of Mr. Armando behind the papers.

"Ah yes…sure it was…here let me help you." He said taking the documents out of her hands and holding them himself "I assume your office is the one on the left when you go up the small set of stairs and turn left?"

Mia did not know as she had now forgotten but decided to nod and follow him wherever he was now heading. Which it turned out was right, down the small set of stairs and the first door on the left. He stopped gestured towards the handle she promptly opened for him and he quickly dumped the papers onto her new desk.

"Thanks." she mumbled to him awkwardly.

"Not problem." he replied smirking again. He offered her his hand which she took as he introduced himself "Diego Armando."

"Mia Fey." she replied also introducing herself.

"Pleased to meet you…properly Ms. Fey" He winked, let go of her hand and walked out leaving Mia feeling pretty angry again and this sexist gesture. Every time she was close to accepting him he went and did something annoying like wink at her or made a smug annoying comment.

She looked down at the paperwork and sighed. What a fun first day it had been so far.


	2. Mixed up priorities

**I know it's only one review, but while I have readers I will post chapters . . . so, here's the second chapter. Thanks thecardboardunicorn, much appreciated. :')**

Mixed up priorities

As the day went on Mia began to accept that paperwork was all she would be doing for the next few weeks at the Grossberg criminal defense law firm and so decided it was probably best if she just got on with it. She had earlier ordered all the paperwork she had into one pile and sorted out which cases where for who. Much to her annoyance, the biggest pile on her desk was surprisingly for Diego Armando. She found this odd because from what she had heard so far he was the newest lawyer her (other than herself) and yet seemed to have them most cases. _He might be unprofessional towards colleagues, _she thought to herself looking through the documents,_ but he sure seems to get complicated cases._

As she finished looking at one of Diego's simpler cases and moved onto the next she felt her eyes scan over some writing that felt strangely familiar to her.

Name: Terry Fawles

Charge: Kidnapping, murder

Sentence: Death penalty

Fugitive movements: After escaping Fawles met with, and then murdered Sergeant Valerie Hawthorne. He was recaptured on Eagle Mountain 8 hours after his escape.

Autopsy report: Stabbed with a knife in the back, died from blood loss between 4 and 5PM.

Extra notes: Threw Dahlia Hawthorne, (14) off the bride into the Eagle River. Was convicted for this 5 years ago. Murder of Valerie Hawthorne is thought to have also taken place here. No decisive Evidence and so witness testimony had to be taken into account. Testimony was by Valeria Hawthorne: the person who confronted him. After confronting him she then arrested Mr. Fawles at the scene. She later testified against him saying that she witnessed Mr. Fawles throw the young victim into the river. Dahlia Hawthorne's body was never recovered.

Trial to be held on February 16th.

Mia re-read the report and searched her head for where the information sounded familiar from before realizing that she had in fact heard Mr. Grossberg and Mr. Armando discussing it earlier. It seemed like such a complicated case as there was so much that the police did not know about what exactly had happened. She saw a yellow post-it note, stuck to the top of the report reading-

"Think about it - M.G"

Assuming that the messy scrawl was from her mentor Mr. Grossberg to Mr. Armando she kept it there and decided that it was time to deliver all the files to Mr. Armando ad she had now looked through nearly all of them. She lifted the considerably lighter pile off her desk and went to search for his office. Mia walked quickly up the small set of stairs as her arms began to grow tired from the still heavy smaller pile of case files. Knowing that Mr. Armando's office was not up the same corridor as Mr. Grossberg's she headed straight on and then turned left now seeing a larger staircase on her right. She climbed it quickly and saw that the name plate read "Diego Armando-Attorney at Law". She knocked and instantly heard a reply of "Come in.". Mia turned the door handle and entered the room to be greeted by the image of Mr. Armando sitting on his desk playing on a-

"Gameboy?" she asked outraged "I've been downstairs working my ass off while you've been sitting here playing on a Gameboy?" Mia clapped her hands over her mouth at her sudden out burst and feeling her cheeks, not for the first time glow red.

"Why yes, I believe that I have for a very good reason too. Because I've already finished all my work." he said now oozing smugness "Would you like a go?" he asked raising his eyebrows in mock sincerity and offering her the small compact games console.

_What am I meant to say, now?_ she asked herself, she hadn't even meant to say that out loud. _He probably knows that, but just enjoys making me squirm_. Mia chose to ignore the question and say "I brought you your documents Mr. Armando, here." she placed them on the desk and turned around to leave.

"Wait, now you've got to tell me about them as I look through them." He said just as Mia pulled at the door.

_Why, are you not capable of reading? _Of course, she couldn't say this to him,"Fine." she replied and strode back over to the desk.

Feel free to get yourself a chair Ms. Fey." Mr. Armando said gesturing to one in the corner. She dragged it over and picked up the file on top. Incidentally it was the file she had been reading earlier on in her office. "So, what's the case about? Just the basic details please…"

_Basic details?_ She thought about it a moment _No, that makes no sense, It's not basic if there are details right?_ Deciding to forget about this started but saying-

"Well basically," Mia started, putting extra emphasis on "basically" then continued, "This guy, Terry Fawles escaped from prison and went to meet with the victim Valerie Hawthorne. He wasn't captured for 8 hours and he was convicted for the murder and kidnapping-"

"Wait…hang on, if I didn't know better I'd say this was the case that I told Mr. Grossberg, only earlier I wasn't interested in. Geez, that man doesn't know when to give up . . . " Diego he muttered, cutting across her.

"Possibly…" Mia knew that it was true as she had heard the conversation herself but didn't say anything.

"Well you should know! You were listening in, oh sorry you were just "leaning against the door" weren't you?" he asked, sarcastically.

Feeling quite embarrassed, Mia decided to ignore his comment and thought perhaps it would be a good idea to distract him from his angry rant. "…Mr. Armando, if you don't mind me asking, why _won't_ you take the case?"

"Ms. Fey, I've already looked carefully through the case file very carefully and escaped death row prisoners plus a lack of decisive evidence plus and 8 hour gap where no one knew where the defendant was equals a lost trial, something that at my stage of the carrier is not good."

"Do you even know if the defendant is guilty or not?" she asked.

"Hmm…He might not be but I'd say there's a very low chance of success." He read the next page of the report and pushed it towards her, under her nose "See look, there's evidence _against_ him, a decisive witness testimony. I feel for the poor defense attorney who gets this case pushed onto them."

Mia was outraged "You _feel_ for them do you? Wow, that would imply that you actually have feelings. That man could be innocent and may end up with a sub-standard defense because you were too busy worrying that if you lose the case your win record will be scratched, well I feel for _you _Mr. Armando!" she yelled all of this before getting up and opening the door, ready to stomp out.

"You…do?" he said clearly puzzled.

"Yes…I do: feel sorry for you if you care about your stupid win record more than saving and innocent life" and with that she slammed the door leaving Diego Armando alone with his thoughts.


	3. Snap Decisions

**Thanks both of you :') well, I can update pretty fast since I only have to edit at the moment, so here's the next chapter.**

Snap decisions

Mia Fey was angry, and that was putting it lightly as she stomped down the stairs, making a rather loud noise as she did so. As she reached the foot of the staircase, she slumped around the corner to gather her raging thoughts.

_He's a lawyer? That man's profession is everything I've worked so hard to become. All of that work so that I could have to power to prove people innocent and he's the second one I come across? That jerk who thinks about no one but himself? Terry Fawles could be innocent for all he knows and yet all that he can think about is his precious win record._

Her head flopped into her hands in desperation because of the betrayal of everything that being a defense attorney meant to her was being carried out. Also, because it was her first day and she'd already shouted at her superior. Still, she couldn't allow herself to think about that at a time like this.

Though she had never met the said defendant she could clearly see in her minds eye Terry Fawles (or what she imagined he would look like) being led with a brown sack over his head to the electric chair where she could see picture his painful death as he writhed and screamed he was innocent. She knew what she had to do, guilty or innocent she knew she could not live with herself knowing that she could have saved him. She headed back to her office, (feeling considerably better, now she had a plan) grabbed her bag before something distracted her in the corner of her eye; Despite the small amount of paperwork she had done earlier there was still quite a decent sized pile of work.

"Mia…Come on Mia think…" She muttered to herself under her breath, leaning over her desk "What's more important to you, paperwork or an innocent mans death?" The answer was clear to her as she rushed out the office leaving the desk as crowded as ever.

….

"I'd like to speak to Terry Fawles please."

"And who are you to him?" the man behind the desk asked.

"Mia Fey." she answered.

"No…you misunderstood me, who are you to him, for example; sister, friend?"

"Oh…erm…potential defense attorney?" this time she made an effort to puff out her chest to show the badge she was so proud of.

The man blushed and muttered something she couldn't quite hear due to how flustered he was now. Regaining his composure (or attempting to) he walked of and said- "Right this way Ms. Fey.".

Realizing that puffing her chest out probably gave the man the wrong impression she went back to normal and followed the man, trying her best to hide her now bright red cheeks. He lead her into a cell with a statue like security guard standing in the corner and said "Terry with be with you shortly Ma'am.".

_Ma'am? You're older than I am!_ Mia sat for a while before finally the door opened to reveal the man who she assumed must be Terry Fawles. He was wearing a blue and white stripy long sleeved prison top with a matching hat. He wore a discontented expression on his face (not that Mia really blamed him) as he slumped down onto the chair on the opposite side of the glass.

"Hello, Mia Fey, nice to meet you." she said stretching her hand out to shake his before it hit the glass in between them. "Ugh...sorry about that, you must be Terry Fawles?"

He nodded sadly as if his head was too heavy to lift properly.

She waited for him to say something, when he didn't she decided it was best to cut to the chase; "I'm here to talk about your case, is there anything you could tell me about-"

"I didn't do nothing…"

"Uh…well could you tell me what happened?" she asked him gently.

"I said…I DIDN'T DO NOTHING!"

"You're saying you're innocent?"

He didn't reply but a tear slid down his cheek as he stared down into his lap. Mia nodded; his tears said more than words could.

"Then it's settled; I'll take your case…err by the way I'm a defense attorney" she laughed nervously before asking- "Is it okay if I take your case?"

Terry nodded, maintaining his somber silence but now Mia could see a tiny glint of hope for him. She would figure everything else out another time; this case was more important than the muddle of other things going on in her life as she bid Terry goodbye and walked out of the visiting room. The details didn't matter; there would be time for that later.


	4. A lapse in judgement

**Once again, thanks everyone for the nice reviews. I'm thinking maybe a chapter a day? Thing is, I'm trying to correct anything I wrote that I've thought better of now. Up to chapter ten is now done, but I'm having trouble with the editing. I've no clue why I'm telling people this. It's not really important. **

**Ah well, hope you enjoy this one too. :')**

A lapse in judgement

Mia returned to the office feeling considerably more contented, after all; now she had a plan. She would figure out what had happened, win the case and teach that stupid Diego Armando what being a lawyer was all about. Of course, the thing first and for most on her mind was rescuing and innocent Terry Fawles, but if she got to prove Diego wrong on the way all the better for her.

As she entered her office and sat down there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

It was Mr. Grossberg, he did _not_ look happy.

"Mia…I just got the most ridiculous phone call saying that you had taken Terry Fawles case, but that, of course, is absurd. I mean, they've _clearly _made a mistake. There's no way a rookie defence attorney, such as yourself, would be stupid enough to take such a hopeless case." he said to her raising his eyebrow in an angry kind of way.

"…Sir-" she began sounding a lot more confident than she really felt "I honestly think I can win…"

"Oh you do, do you? And exactly what makes you believe that?"

Mia paused, she couldn't think of anything "Sir…I just have a feeling…I'm sorry I went behind your back on my first day, but…please just trust me with this case…it means so much to me, I don't know why but I feel like this could have a massive impact on my life.".

"Mia, you can be serious? You're doing this on a hunch! I'm sorry but that man is doomed! It would be a serious mistake to take something as risky as this as your first case." He said, his brow very much furrowed.

"I'm sorry Mr. Grossberg , I've already said I'll take it. There's more to being a lawyer than a win record."

"Sorry, do you still not understand? Have you not seen who's prosecuting this trial?"

She glanced down at the file that lay on her desk.

Prosecutor: Miles Edgeworth

"I…don't understand. Who's Miles Edgeworth?" she asked _What's the big deal?_ she couldn't help but think. Mia knew she was a good Lawyer, the only reason she could think of for losing the case would be if Terry Fawles was guilty.

"He's a rookie defense attorney; like you…" This made Mia even more skeptical, c again _What's the big deal?_ Mr. Grossberg cleared his throat "…Only he's not any normal rookie, he's a prodigy; raised by Manfred Von Karma."

"Manfred Von what now?" she asked, as she had no idea who he was and why Mr. Grossberg seemed to be making such a fuss about her taking a case against a prosecutor, who had Manfred Von thingy as his mentor.

"He's a German prosecutor, clearly you've never heard of him, not one single loss in 40 years as a prosecutor."

"And so you're saying that this Edgeworth guy will be as good as…Oh I've forgotten his name…"

"Not _as_ good, but not who I'd ideally have you facing on your first time in the court-room. Mia…I want you to listen to me; If you take that case you will be committing carrier _suicide._"

Mia turned her head away as a reasonable voice in her head asked her;

"Why are you taking this case anyway? Because you believe you can win or because you _want_ to believe you can win, to show Mr. Armando up?"

_I can win this_ a voice in her head told her, though it sounded less certain by the second. "Mr. Grossberg, It's okay, I'll be prepared; you'll see."

"Well if you've made up your mind, there's nothing I can do. After all you have as much right to take and reject cases as any of you co-workers…Good luck…you'll certainly need it." he said, muttering the last part under his breath. He walked out, shaking his head despairingly as he left..

Mia yawned and looked at her watch, _wow, time flies, huh?_ she thought to herself as she saw it was now the end of the day and what a hectic one it had been. She had got her first case! She cleared all the papers on her already messy desk into one pile, vowed to do them tomorrow and picking up her bag on the way walked out of her office.

Just as she nearly reached reception she, not for the first time, walked into something . . . or someone.

"Ah, watch where you're going!" Mr. Armando yelled out in surprise.

"S-sorry I was somewh- Oh it's you…" she trailed off, recognising him.

"Hmm…you're friendly." he replied sarcastically "I'm guessing you're about to apologize for shouting at me; your senior earlier."

Mia snorted "I don't think so, you were out of order!"

"…so you thought you'd show me and do my job for me right? Show Mr. Mean Armando what being a lawyer is all about?" he mocked her, putting on a silly voice.

She stayed cool though, keeping her tone nonchalant. "…If that's necessary…then yes I am. You might be able to sit by and watch an innocent man die but not me."

"Aww, very touching" he gushed, but then smirked.

Mia began to walk off to reception.

"See you tomorrow!" he shouted after her, "Oh wait…perhaps not, you'll be in the trail won't you?"

She turned round lightning fast "What?" Mia asked, completely stunned, not baring the believe what he was implying.

Mr. Armando sniggered "Sorry, did you not realise the trail's tomorrow?" he asked, cool as ice.

She was too shocked to say anything back, the reasonable voice however, was not;

_Mia, what have you gotten yourself into?_


	5. Dispair

**Here's the next chapter . . .**

Despair

Mia sighed loudly and buried her head in her arms, slumping over her desk. _Tomorrow, tomorrow? How can the trial be then? I-I practically know nothing about the case._ This thought was on permanent loop hole in her mind as if she couldn't quite grasp how little time she had to prepare…and then there was the little voice in her head; constantly reminding her _You could drop the case…let someone else do it…after all it's your first day and you're taking a case that senior attorneys turned down. No one would blame you, you're just a rookie…_ She got up and walked out of her living room, biting her lip anxiously as she walked over to the phone in the kitchen.

Picking it up slowly just as she was about to press the first digit; it rang. She quickly caught the phone after dropping it from fright and answered it.

"Hello?" she said nervously hoping it wasn't her conscience asking her how she could drop the case like this.

"Sis, is that you?" the voice replied.

"Oh, Maya, it's you!" Mia said, warmly happy to speak to someone who was in no way linked to her law office "How are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess…" she paused. "It sucks here now without you though, I really miss you!"

"Aww, you'll get used to things as they are soon, if I'm honest it's strange living here on my own…" she replied soothingly.

Secretly Mia felt exactly the same as her sister and hated being away from Maya. She'd always been so close to her sister, especially as their mother had disappeared. Mia had to do her best to be like a mother to her sister, which hadn't always been easy).

"Mia…Why _are_ you on your own? Why did you leave?" Maya asked sadly.

"Because…listen Maya, don't you want to know what happened to Mum? I…I just couldn't see a future there, at Kurian." though this was true she also had seen what the position of Master had done to her mother and her aunty Morgan. Mia cared too much for Maya to have her argue that way and so had rejected her position and left to become a defence attorney.

"Yes, but…what about the position of Master? It was yours…Why did you give it up?"

Mia paused; she didn't want to tell her the complete truth, she knew Maya would just promise that that would never happen to them. She knew it was better for them to stay the way things were now; Maya to become the next Master in a couple of years and her to stay in the city and find out what exactly had happened to their mother and why she had disappeared.

"I…I didn't want it. Maya just believe me; you'll make a much better Master than I could ever have. It's better this way…"

"I don't see how…but I guess if you're so sure…" Maya trailed off, "So…err how's everything where you are, wasn't it your first day today? How did it go?" she continued, changing the subject.

Mia groaned, "It was terrible! Apparently I've committed carrier suicide and on my first day too!"

"How on earth did you manage that?" Maya asked, with a giggle.

.

"Don't laugh! I took this case that no one else would take and now I think I know why no one would take it…"

"Oh…well can't you back out? It is your first day after all."

"That's what I was thinking…but now I can just picture the poor guys face when he finds out no one will defend him and _I_, the one person who said they would defend him, has just deserted him because they're afraid of losing".

At that moment the door bell sounded, Mia picked up the portable phone and went to answer it.

.

"Mia if the case is that difficult they shouldn't have you on it anyway, someone more experienced should take it!" Maya continued to speak as Mia advanced towards the door.

"Yes, but no one would and my boss even attempted to dissuade me from it…but I didn't listen! I'm such an idiot." Mia said as she opened the door to find Diego Armando's smug face greeting her.

"Well that I completely agree with." he said smugly.

"Shut up!" Mia said, indignantly.

"What? Well sorry I was only trying to help." Maya said sounding upset.

"No, no I wasn't talking to you!" She said, rolling her eyes.

"Well who were you talking to? Are you with someone?" Maya asked.

Mia scowled, "I was talking to some moron from my work; he just insulted me, kinda lamely though if you ask me…"

Diego was now leaning against Mia's door frame smirking and looking generally pleased with himself as he said "Yes, and calling me a moron is very original and a fantastic comeback…In fact I should congratulate you on your comeback from earlier as well; "Shut up!" was truly a stroke of genius!"

"Oh, I'm guessing you didn't understand it as you're still talking…" Mia snapped back before putting her ear back to the phone.

"Ooh a guy from work eh? And from what I can hear you're flirting with him as well!"

"Don't be silly, if you think that's flirting then you don't know a lot about it do you?" Mia retorted.

"I know enough to know that's what you're doing…Well anyway I should go now, I think I'm disturbing your "conversation" with" she paused "your boyfriend!" Maya said now giggling uncontrollably down the phone.

"You're actually disturbing me…but not in the way you think you are..." Mia said, raising her eyebrow.

Mia could see from the amused expression on Diego's face he was enjoying this immensely and clearly could hear what Maya was saying.

"Well anyway," Maya said, her laughter dying down now "I really should go, I'll phone you again tomorrow, love you!"

"Bye Maya, love you too." she said finally hanging up and turning to look at Diego "Now what are _you_ doing here?"

"Has anyone ever complimented you on your warm, sunny persona before?" he asked her sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes, "Get on with it."

"Why of course I came to see how you were doing with your case."

"How do you _think_ I'm doing?" she inquired raising one eyebrow exasperatedly.

"Well if I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be here would I?"

"If you've come here to gloat . . ."

"Relax, I haven't-"

She softened a little, "Look, I'm not too proud to admit it, but I wouldn't have taken that case If I'd known the trial was tomorrow…I can't win it…we both know that." She said sadly.

"Don't give up so easily, nothing's impossible. All you need to do is believe you can do it. Think how confident you were earlier; before you knew the trail was tomorrow. Nothings changed, you can do this . . . probably." he added.

Despite his final word, Mia was quite taken aback by Diego's sudden show of compassion, so much so she turned around and walked away, back to the kitchen, trying to think of a casual way of showing she was actually touched. "Th-Thank you." she said as he followed behind her as she put the phone back onto the hook. "Would you like a drink?" she asked him politely, unable to think of anything else to say back to him.

"A drink? Usually I'd say yes without a thought but no, today we have no time. We'll be too busy!"

"Busy doing what exactly?" she asked, feeling puzzled _Is this guy an alcoholic or something? I meant tea, not Whisky…_

"Busy figuring out what you're going to do on that case."


	6. The aftermath

**Big thank you to everyone who reviewed :') Here's the next chapter, guys, with actual cannon stuff from the game. :L**

The aftermath

"I-I promised her…5 years ago…" a voice echoed around her head "If it ever happens…That we can't trust each other no more…Then we're supposed to…drink…bottle…ugh..."

"N-no! Stop the trial! Your honour, we need recess!" Mr. Edgeworth's voice shouted from the other side of the court room.

"I…was stupid…Couldn't…keep…promise…" Terry gasped, "So I did it…I drank…this."

"No! We're so close, just a little more. I was going to prove your innocence!" Mia yelled out exhaustedly.

"No…don't want that…don't trust self…maybe kill again…kill sweet Dahlia…again…" Fawles choked out with a pained expression, as blood began to poor from his mouth.

"Mr. Fawles!"

"Mr. Ar…Armando…Th-thank you for the…coffee…" Terry fell to floor after coughing out his last sentence.

"MR. FAAAAAAAAWLES!" Mia screamed, as she awoke from her sleep. It was hardly surprising after such a traumatic first case that the events of that day had been on a permanent loop hole around her head. She began to weep a little as her thoughts gathered and she became aware that it had not all been a dream; Terry Fawles had killed himself _…and it was all my fault._

There was a knock on her bedroom door that she only just about managed to answer with "Come in…"

"Are you crying again?"

She leaned her head forward so her hair covered her face. How could she have forgotten? Diego Armando had insisted on sleeping downstairs in case she needed practically refused to leave.

Mia sniffed "No, I'm…fine."

He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her while putting his arm around her as she wept, "Did you forget? The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over."

"Then I don't want be a lawyer any more…" she choked out.

He sighed, "It won't always hurt this much. What happened earlier was a great tragedy and the person who caused it was not brought to justice…" Diego paused with a very serious look on his face "…but it won't always be that way…Even if I have to do it myself!"

Mia stopped crying for a moment and looked up at him, surely he wasn't thinking of pursuing the case more? Had he not seen what had happened to everyone involved with Dahlia Hawthorne? "No, you can't…we should let it go…move on."

Diego raised one eyebrow "I'm sorry, but I can't see that happening. I know I said it won't always hurt so much but pain like this…It doesn't go away over night".

She sniffed, "I know that but…I don't want…I don't want…"

"Yes?" he asked quietly.

"Well…look at what's happened…Valerie died, Mr. Fawles joined her. Everyone connected to that case…well they died and now today you and I were defending Mr. Falwes. If we get any more connected to this case . . . _we_ might join them".

Diego looked away a moment "You're upset . . . we can always discuss this tomorrow, can't we?" there was a little defiance in his voice. For once she didn't feel like arguing with him.

"I…I guess so. Goodnight Mr. Armando..."

"After all this you're still calling me Mr. Armando? Call me Diego…Goodnight Kitten." he said walking over to the door that shed light into her room.

She waited till he had closed the door before doing as he wished, "Goodnight…Diego." she whispered softly to the darkness.


	7. Regrets

** Thanks for the kind reviews :') It doesn't exactly get happier yet though.**

Regrets

Mia groaned as she awoke and attempted to sit up. Brushing her messy, uncombed hair out of her eyes as she put one foot out of the bed, she gave up and collapsed back down.

"Mia? Are you awake?"

She yawned loudly, as and indication that she was awake.

Diego pushed open the door to reveal he was carrying a tray stacked full of bowls, plates and glasses, full of food. "I made you breakfast, how are you feeling?" he said. He sounded serious.

"Uh…thank you but…I'm really not hungry." she replied.

He nodded, but gave her a searching look.

"You never answered my other question; How are you feeling?" he said, after Mia had said nothing and continued to stare ahead blankly.

"I'm…fine…" she muttered unconvincingly.

Mia could see out of the corner of her eye Diego was going to drop the subject as he began to arrange the plates and bowls out. Clearly it was breakfast for two.

"E-Excuse me, I need to go to the toilet." She said slinging her foot out of the side of the bed where Diego was not perched. She blushed as she saw that she had been sleeping in her flannel, teddy themed, pyjamas, which weren't an item of clothing she was desperate for anyone she worked with, to see her in. But he was kind and respectfully looked away. She suspected he probably was holding back a smirk though.

As soon as she reached the bathroom she shut the door behind her and locked it. She leaned over the sick and looked into the mirror. _Urgh, I look a sight…_ she thought, as she looked at her smudged mascara underneath her eyes. She took a make-up remover pad and began to wipe away the back smudges, wishing that she could wipe away the entire incident, wipe away everything inside, all the pain from what had happened.

She suddenly found a fresh wave of tears in her eyes as she fell to the floor cradling her head in her arms crying below her sink, desperately hoping that Diego wouldn't hear. She felt as though she really needed some time alone to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last few days. This was something she wasn't sure would be easy with Diego fussing over her.

There was a knock on the bathroom door after a moment.

"Kitten, are you okay in there?" she could hear Diego call through.

Mia breathed out deeply. Some how, the sudden outburst of crying had helped. Not completely, but it had felt good to let out her emotions like that and not bottle them up inside the way she would sometimes do when something was bothering her.

"Yeah, I'm okay." she called back, not entirely truthfully and keeping her voice steady. After quickly finishing off her make-up removing job, she stepped outside of the bathroom to prove she was fine.

"Are you...sure?" he said putting his hands on her shoulders and peering down into her face sceptically.

"No, but I don't feel as bad as I did before." she answered more honestly but still avoiding his gaze and noticing how he still had his hands on her shoulders.

It was a weird realisation that hit her now; while it was true it hadn't been his first case, the whole event can't have been nice for him either. "What about you though?"

"What about me?" he asked looking genuinely puzzled by the question.

"What I mean is, well…Are you okay? That trial can't have been easy for you either."

Diego took his hands of her shoulders but continued to stare right into her eyes as he said "Yeah, don't worry about me Kitten. I'm completely fine; It's you I'm worried about."

"Well…don't be I'm fine. Yes I'm sad…but I'll get over it…right?" She said, clearly not just asking Diego this.

Diego paused and surveyed her for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry but it's not up to me how much this affects you…If it was I'd have you not care at all".

Mia felt her eyes well up "How could I not care? He died and it's my entire fault! If I'd known being a lawyer would be like this I'd never of become one!" she turned away from him and hurried off to her room shutting the door behind her.

She heard him follow her and stand outside as he began to tap on the closed door quietly "Mia … Mia ... " she could hear him repeat softly "It wasn't your fault." After getting no answer he continued "You pressed him for answers because that's your _job_. I would bet my life that if you'd known what he'd do you'd not have done that. . ."

"You're a good lawyer Mia. I saw that yesterday; you're no ordinary rookie." Mia heard Diego sigh, "I understand if you need some time alone but don't do anything rash, okay? The world needs more moral lawyers like you in it. The kind of Lawyers who defend someone because they're innocent…not for money…and they don't turn requests down because they're too difficult and they're scared of losing…Because..." Diego was silent only for a moment before he finally said:

"Well…I'm sorry, I should have taken the Terry Fawles case…" Mia winced at his name. "…And I shouldn't have been so scared of losing my win record and then been so smug when you took the case…What I'm trying to say is…well, I'm sorry because you wouldn't be here like this today if you hadn't taken it on. It's my fault…and I'm sorry."

He finally stopped talking; after all he'd said all the things he'd been thinking last night while poor Mia had been upstairs crying. That awful "what if . . ." feeling had been hanging over him for far too long. Thy hadn't he taken it? Because the new rookie at the office that he'd caught listening in on conversations had been so interested in it and he'd wanted to seem tough and experienced in front of her?

And why had he wanted her to think that anyway?


	8. Further, but very different, regrets

**Thanks thecardboardunicorn :') and urgh, I've somehow not updated in ages. Hope you enjoy the next chapter. **

Further, but very different, regrets

Mia sat awkwardly against the bottom of the door, her head in her hands listening to Diego through the door; wishing that he'd go away. At the back of her mind this feeling mingled with guilt, after all Diego was the one who'd been there for her after what had happened; the one who'd taken her home; helped her to bed; made her breakfast and been nice to her. He seemed to understand, so why couldn't he understand she needed to be alone right now?

Eventually his voice disappeared; Mia assumed he'd given up and she heard his footsteps trail off down the hallway.

_Why do I feel so bad? It's totally understandable to want to be alone isn't it…Which would be okay…but why am I angry? Diego actually admitted he was wrong not to take the case for the reason he said_ Masses of questions stormed through Mia's mind as she sat slumped there before she finally feel into a deep sleep.

She was stood by Maya in a field full of large reindeer that she could see were steadily trotting towards them. Mia had always been frightened of reindeer and so began to creep quickly towards a forest on the other side of the field. She recognized it from long ago as a forest Maya had not wanted to go into when she had been younger. When they reached it they were met by Diego Armando who was wearing his usual clothes but instead of his dark hair was powder white.

"Maya, if I were you I wouldn't go in there. It could be dangerous and I don't want to lose my win record. It's perfect, like me." He said smugly with his arms folded.

"That makes no sense and I'm going in there anyway." Mia replied, taking a step into the lush greenery. Maya followed her closely as the forest grew darker and darker as they went further in. Before long Mia felt unsure of where she was as she looked around desperately trying to find and opening in the dense leaves and trees.

"Mia, where are we? I'm scared!" Maya said despairingly.

"I-I don't know…" she said slowly wondering if they'd be able to re-trace their steps.

Maya began to cry as she asked "Why didn't you listen to that nice man and not come here; why did you take the case? It's dangerous here! You're supposed to protect me but you only ever think of yourself! You're selfish Mia Fey and stubborn!"

Suddenly huge reindeer began to close in around the creeping from behind trees with legs as long as Mia was tall; she could hear Maya screaming as she yelled "No, go away! You're too big, I'm not a good enough lawyer!" Just as the largest reindeer began to nudge her face aggressively she awoke suddenly.

Running her hand across her face groggily, she sat up realizing she was still slumped at the end of her bed. She shakily got up and sat down on the duvet smoothing it out with her hand distractedly.

_What the hell was that dream about? It made no sense at all; huge reindeers and creepy forests with Diego Armando standing at the head of them. What inspired me to dream something __like that? _Dredding to think what Frued would say, she yawned, got up and walked out of the room to go and freshen herself up.

Though still a little tired Mia brushed her clean, but slightly damp, hair from her face and walked down the stairs slightly dragging her feet on her cream carpet. There were only 3 all the way up as her room and the bathroom was only slightly elevated above the rest of the small bungalow.

She had been surprised she'd even been able to afford the small, one bedroomed bungalow and yet her Aunt Morgan had happily agreed to pay for it. She walked over to the coffee table where she had spied a small note.

"Dear Kitten, Gone back to work. PLEASE call me if you need ANYTHING at all."

She smiled to herself. She really had got the wrong side of him when she'd first met him, but now he was showing himself to be a true friend who seemed to genuinely care about her. She put on her coat because it was raining again and left the house; getting a taxi to the Grossberg Criminal law and defence firm.

As she stepped inside it was strange to think she'd only been working there for two days. _Two days and I'm traumatized…possibly for the rest of my life? It was such bad luck seeing that case and becoming so obsessed with taking it. If I hadn't seen in I wouldn't feel like this or be such a mess…_

She saw there was no one at reception and so proceeded to her room to drop off her bag to go and see Diego to apologize for shouting at him. _Why did I shout anyway? Just because he said he wished she didn't care at all about this which was because he doesn't want me to be sad. After all to some lawyers learn to completely separate their social life from work. Is it possible that the prodigy Miles Edgeworth is completely un-affected but the whole incident yesterday?_ She thought all this as she walked up the stairs and into Diego's office.

There would be times in the future where Mia would wish that she had knocked or remembered she forgot to turn off her oven and ran home, not disturbing Diego Armando for perhaps another twenty minutes when she had returned. This was because of the image that met her eyes as she casually entered; Diego; perched in the edge of his desk, locked in a passionate embrace with none other than Penny the secretary.


	9. Coping with things questionably

**I have no idea how this happened, but somehow, I managed to miss out a chapter so as things stand, Mia walked in on Diego and Penny and then in the next chapter Mia had just headed home and it didn't make a huge amount of sense, really. So this is the real chapter nine. **

**Sorry guys, won't happen again. **

Coping with things questionably

Needless to say the couple instantly sprung apart as Mia immediately backed out of the room.

_Why didn't you knock Mia, why, why, why, why?_ She practically ran down the steps hearing her footsteps being followed by Diego who had ran out and after here.

"Mia, wait!" Mia heard him call after her, she ground to a halt and turned around.

"Ah,-yes-Mr. Armando? I'm-so-sorry, I-should-have-knocked-I mean,-really,-how-embarrassing-for-you-and-me-and-the-glue-that-holds-this-awkward-situation-together; Penny. Though, that-being-said, you-really-should-put-up-a-"Please knock"-sign-for-un-suspecting-Co-workers-such-as-myself-because-I'm-not-going-to-lie, I-didn't-exactly-want-to-see-that. I-didn't-even-know-you-were-seeing-Penny. How-long-has-that-been-going-on-for-" Mia said all of this very fast without stopping for breath before Diego stopped her. He raised his hands and his eyebrows as he spoke.

"Calm down Kitten, it' not like we were having sex or anything. I can see you weren't expecting to come in and see that. I'm sorry if it embarrassed you, though.". He said, calmly.

She gulped and straightened her suit "W-well yes. Sorry I didn't knock. I'd really better be going now. Thanks…" She began to walk off down the rest of the stairs.

"Mia, was there anything you wanted? After all I figure you came to my office for a reason."

"Nope…No reason at all; though I should mention how happy I am to see you and Penny have err…found each other.". Mia blushed realizing how strange, what she'd just said sounded. "Well, I guess I also wanted to thank you for being so nice to me, too."

He looked away, "It's nothing, I didn't mind at all, honestly," then he started shuffling his feet and looking at the floor. "and for the record, we haven't found each other. We're not even dating.".

"Oh…well what _are_ you doing then?" she asked confusedly.

"Well, err kissing . . . and other things…" He said sounding slightly embarrassed himself now.

"Well yeah, obviously," she said feeling considerably less embarrassed. After all, this didn't need to be awkward, did it? Diego was right; they're actions were perfectly PG-13, "but after that you're going to start dating her right? I probably shouldn't say but she really likes you."

He coughed "I guess you win some, you lose some. She'll be okay."

Mia raised her eyebrows "Let me get this straight, you don't want to date her, even though she likes you, you've made out with her; implying you like her too but you're not going to anyway. Then, why make out with her in the first place?"

Diego paused apparently thinking "Err…I made out with her because I felt like kissing someone and she's attractive and seemed to want to…"

"Well that's…incredibly shallow and more than that, incredibly selfish." Mia thought aloud "So are _you_ going to tell her this or leave her standing up there where she's probably waiting for you…or should I?" she asked, sarcastically.

Diego took a minute; clearly playing out what that would be like in his head before he finally reacted, "No…no, no, no, no, no! That's really not a good idea…" he paused for a moment.

_Diego's acting really strangely._ she thought trying to figure out why "Okay, so you'll go and apologize to her for not respecting her feelings at all and explain how you completely slipped up?"

"Yeah…okay…" he nodded and began to walk back up the stairs to his office, but Mia swore she heard him mutter "Or something like that…" under his breath.

She decided that all this was a good distraction. The more she busied herself as the day went on she found the less she had time to dwell on anything that would upset her. She found that her lunch time was the worst. She decided to head to the staff room to make some hot chocolate for herself where she bumped into Penny. She blushed realizing it was definitely too late to back out of the room unnoticed. Mia had her own troubles after all; she didn't exactly feel like being Penny's shoulder to cry on at the moment. Penny turned round and smiled; this was very much a surprise for Mia as she had expected Penny to either have mascara halfway down her face or to look exceedingly angry.

"Mia! Hi! Can I get you anything?" Penny exclaimed.

She shook her head in answer to the question. This behaviour confused Mia, after all, practically as soon as Mia had first met Penny it was quite clear that she had been very interested in Diego Armando who had then kissed her despite not having feelings that matched the girls own. The only way that Penny could not be angry or upset at this moment was if…

"So has Diego spoken to you yet?" Mia asked casually picking up the tub of hot chocolate.

Penny's reaction was an instant deep red blush as she clapped one of her hands to her mouth, "I'm so sorry! I completely forgot about how you walked in on us earlier, how embarrassing!"

"Uh yeah…that was a bit of a shock but I'd forgotten if I'm honest." This was lie. Mia had found it very distracting to think of poor Penny when she found out Diego had basically used her as a stress relieving coping strategy. Perhaps Mia would have been harsher towards Diego if it was not for what had happened yesterday. She assumed that Diego had just needed someone to be close to in that way with and Penny had been the first person he'd seen. "So, you've spoken since then?"

"Of course…though he did seem a little distant…though he said that was because of something that happened yesterday." She looked thoughtful for a moment before tuning to look at Mia who was pointedly looking at the kettle; waiting for it to boil. "Actually…he said that you had something to do with it. Something like some guy named Terry?"

She winced at his name, but repressed her feelings. She breathed in and tried to think of something, anything else.

"Mia, are you all right?" Penny asked, sounding concerned.

She sniffed, "I'm fine…" she said stirring her hot chocolate "I should go, I have so much work to do, bye!" she said this quickly as she picked up her mug and practically ran out the room as fast as possible without spilling it.

She was going to confront Diego and who could blame her? The least he could have done was perhaps tell her how he had been too gutless to tell Penny the truth. Without visiting her room she clonked up the stairs to his office feeling pretty furious as she burst through the door half expecting to see him with _another_ girl.

He looked up; clearly surprised to be burst in on again. Mia was amazed to see he was actually doing some work. He stopped and looked at up her from his desk.

She marched right up to his desk "Why haven't you told Penny?" She asked; practically shouting.

"Uh…" he mumbled, breaking eye contact and trying to busy himself with some sheets. "I changed my mind. Penny's a nice girl. A guy could do a lot worse." Diego carried on looking through his papers and re-arranging them.

Mia raised her eyebrows sarcastically "Really? Because I thought it was because you're too gutless to tell her what you did and why you did it. But forgive me. I was clearly wrong!"

This caused him to look aback at her gain "Oh right? That's what you thought was it? Go on then, use your amazing psychological skills to analyse why I did what I did then!" he shouted fuming now.

"Fine, I will! Because I think the incident from the other day affected you so much more than you're letting on. You say you actually do care about Penny and yet you don't even tell her what happened! Terry Fawles _killed _himself right in front of all of us because of that _bitch_; Dahlia Hawthorne. No matter how much you try to be tough and not be bothered by this you are! Stop trying to bottle it inside. I'm not expecting you to cry…Just tell me how you feel."

"Tell me how you feel?" Diego repeated skeptically "You mean the way that you did when you shut yourself in the bathroom and locked yourself in your room? Mia, believe it or not I actually do understand human emotions. I know why you did those things and I respected that by going back to work. I know you needed to be left alone to come to terms with the terrible thing that happened! I'm here for you Mia because I know you care. You're not the kind of person who leaves the person they were a moment ago in the courtroom forgetting who's guilty, but found innocent; forgetting who's innocent, but found guilty and I respect that and I respect you, but don't go criticizing my way of dealing with whatever life throws at me!"

Mia's face softened "I'm glad you respect me but I can't respect your way of dealing with when your method shows how little you care for Penny's feelings…" she said simply.

"Or perhaps I know I messed up and it's _because_ I care about her feelings that I haven't told her…though I am scared too…" he admitted.

"Diego…everyone makes mistakes and messes up…I'm sure she'll understand if you tell her what happened and how sorry you are you hurt her". Mia said, trying to sound convincing.

He grumbled under his breath "Thing is…would it really be the worst thing if I don't? Maybe I could go out with Penny for a while, that would help her get over me wouldn't it?"

"I don't follow you…" Mia said, trying to see what he was getting at.

"Well if we go out on a few dates she'll how annoying I am to be in a relationship with . . ." he said, thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hands.

Mia narrowed her eyes in disbelief before she said "You know what Diego? Do what you like but don't expect me to have anything to do with it, okay? Tell her what you did…" she paused for dramatic affect "Or I will…"

**Ah, a welcome distraction for poor Mia in the shape of a turbulent co-worker relationship. I'm really stuck on editing chapter 10, but i'll try and figure something else. When I wrote it originally, it really didn't make a lot of sense and seems kinda random. **

**Oh well, i'll try my best :') Thanks for the reviews :') **


	10. Confrontations

**Hey anyone reading this! Long time no post, but i'm finally done. ;D**

**thecardboardunicorn: should be glad to know, this chapter's heaps longer than the last few. On word, it's five pages long, but it is spaced. Also, thanks Kongu123 and ah, I remember you Kitty Sneeze! I plan on picking up where I left off, once I've a) posted all the chapters edited and b) when I remember where I was actually going with the story. I usually just edit them, since, bad as my grammar is, it's still improved a little since this time last year. **

**I've added loads to this chapter, as I think it was waaaaay too randomly introduced before. Anyway, enjoy and remember to review! . . . If you like? :')**

Confrontations

She was annoyed and it was an odd feeling to have after experiencing so many different emotions in one day. Mia didn't need this; the added distraction of knowing the closest people she had to friends at work were either using people or being used themselves. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. He'd had his chance to end things and chickened out.

What a day it had been. She felt weird as the realization that she'd only been working there for a few days hit her. It felt like weeks already.

Heading home in the rain, with nothing to protect her she sloped off home, not even caring how wet she got. As she slumped down lazily onto her sofa, the minute she was home, she sighed. Never in her life could she remember feeling so tired.

Glancing over at the clock, her eyes lingered on the time; it was only six in the afternoon.

_I'll just close my eyes for a second . . ._ she though, knowing full well that anyone who said that was likely to fall asleep. Moments after she'd thought this, she was already, dreaming. She was standing in the middle of a room and there were four black doors, sharply contrasting with the white walls that seemed to go on forever. It was as light as she imagined heaven would be and she chose the door on the far right, pushing the door open firmly to find two silhouettes intertwined, clearly kissing passionately in the distance. She wanted to look away and hide from the view she had so she ran in the nothingness and once again was faced with the doors.

This time she approached the door on the far left. She opened it tentatively, anxious, but unsure why. Suddenly, she was in a crowd with hundreds of others, but she could see a family of four in the distance; a mother with dark hair, a man with sandy hair and two little girls. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn't know why and she turned around and was suddenly behind bars, but still watching the crowd.

Then she saw her mother . . . or at least someone who looked like her from behind; the short, thick dark hair and the Kurain robes. Instantly, Mia began to shout, screaming for her, but she wouldn't turn round and when she made to run after her the bars stood firm. They started to change though, morphing into a shape of a dark figure still obscuring her freedom. At first the figure had no face, it was just a dark shadow, preventing her from reaching her mother, but then it took a shape, just for a second.

She saw the face of Marvin Grossberg, staring down at her through his round spectacles above his bushy moustache.

Stern, but not angrily he began to speak, "You know, there's nothing we can do . . . you can't catch her . . . she's already gone, I'm sorry." the last part of the sentence was spoken slowly and softly, full of sincerity, but she was still distressed. It was _his fault _she couldn't catch her.

Awaking quickly and suddenly in the same spot on her sofa as before, she felt tears rolling her face. Wiping them away she yawned and stood and dragged herself to her bedroom; it was only ten o'clock, there was still plenty of time to sleep.

But in bed her mind drifted back to the dream.

Now she knew what she had to do tomorrow.

The next day Mia strode purposefully in the direction of Grossberg's office with two names clearly etched into her mind. "Redd White" and "Marvin Grossberg". This was it; one of the reasons she'd become a Lawyer. She knew who to ask, and what to ask about and she couldn't imagine he'd be all that surprised. Surely he'd have recognised her surname when he'd employed her?

Mia may have been there of grim business, but today, she felt pretty good. The twelve hours of sleep had something to do with that she suspected. Her eyes felt bright and she'd woken up early enough to beautify herself completely.

She swallowed and knocked on the door, waited a moment and walked in. Marvin was sitting at his desk and was now looking at Mia confusedly.

"I believe when you knock you are meant to wait for someone to confirm they don't mind you coming in?" he said.

She blushed "Err, so sorry. I momentarily forgot…" Mia nodded, feeling slightly flustered now and looking at the floor.

"Ah well. No harm done. What was it you wanted?"

_Geez Mia you'd think you'd have learned to knock properly from the last instance or at least from that dream, or should I say nightmare?,_ she thought to herself as a picture arose in Mia's mind or Mr. Grossberg in a similar position to Diego's from earlier. Resisting a shudder she looked Marvin straight in the eye and said;

"Well Sir…I was wondering what the name Misty Fey means to you?" Mia asked him assertively. She supposed she ought to be grateful to her subconscious really, after all, it had kind of reminded her why she became a lawyer in the first place.

Grossberg now looked slightly uncomfortable as he shuffled in his seat "I knew you'd come here and ask that sometime. I just wasn't expecting you so soon. Especially after the incident yesterday…I was sorry to hear about that. Truly tragic…" he trailed off into his own thoughts for a moment as Mia stood waiting for him to say something else. Noticing she was still stood up he gestured towards a chair for her to sit in.

"Well sir…what does her name mean to you?" she asked, hoping to pressurize him into answering.

"Misty Fey…is the name of the spirit medium from the DL-6 case. The police were so stumped, they brought her in to summon Gregory Edgeworth who-"

"Edgeworth?" She cut across him, momentarily distracted, "Edgeworth as in the famous prodigy prosecutor? The one with Manfred Vonthingy as his mentor who I faced in court yesterday?".

Grossberg nodded gravely, "Yes, only he was his father. He was shot in an incident a long time ago. It was very tragic, especially for his son, the Edgeworth you know; who saw the whole thing happen.".

"Wow, now wonder Prosecutor Edgeworth turned out that way…he saw his own father being murdered?" she said shocked trying to imagine how upsetting that must have been for him.

"Yes; it may also surprise you to learn that Gregory Edgeworth was a defense attorney." He said raising his eyebrows meaningfully.

Mia; suddenly remembering why she'd come here in the first place answered "Really? But Miles Edgeworth is a prosecutor."

"Can you not see why he would consider a change of carrier; for the future? After all, the man who was accused of murdering his father was never found guilty. Would you be able to defend criminals after that?"

Mia shook her head, realising it was time to get back on topic, "Anyway. What's all this got to do with my Mother?" she asked.

"Well…the police: they were stumped and so they called in a spirit medium to channel his spirit. Gregory seemed unsure of exactly how he was killed and yet still blamed Yanni Yogi; the defendant. A man named Robert Hammond who was Yanni's defense attorney convinced him to plead temporary insanity due to lack of oxygen. He got an acquittal and was set free…"

Realizing where all this was headed she continued for him "…Misty Fey's reputation as a spirit medium was ruined because her testimony didn't stand up in court…She left Kurain Village because she was ashamed…"

Grossberg nodded "I'm very sorry Mia."

"…Are you? Because that's where you come into the story, what part did you play?" Mia asked sniffing, "I have another question for you…What does the name Redd White mean to you?"

The change was immediate as locks and chains sprang across Grossberg and two locks appeared. Mia flinched in shock as she had forgotten the power held in a charged Magatama.

_I knew it. I knew he was hiding something…but what_? She decided to gather together what she knew so far. _When I left Kurain, I had those two names; Redd White and Marvin Grossberg. I know they're the reason that my mother's reputation was ruined and I know that Redd White's profession is to find information to give to the press…and I know Robert Hammond works here and Mr. Grossberg seems to have a huge knowledge of the case. He'd be the perfect person to go to for information…" _Suddenly it clicked in her mind as she realized that Grossberg had played a pretty large part in ruining Misty Fey's life.

"Mr. Grossberg, I know Redd Whites profession is to collect information and who better than the audience of the whole affair to ask for information?" Mia said, piling on the pressure.

"Does he?" Grossberg asked nonchalantly, playing it dumb.

"Oh give it up, Sir!" she exclaimed; annoyed by his lack of cooperation, "What did he offer you then?" He looked confused and yet Mia could tell he was acting as his eyes were darting around the room worriedly. She calmed down a little and tried a different approach "Please…Mr. Grossberg, don't I have a right to know why my she's been absent for more than half of my life. Doesn't my sister have a right? She was two when she left, _two_.

"I'm sorry, Mia . . . and I'm sorry for her too." he said; with a guilty look upon his face.

She nodded and looked away, unsure of exactly what to say to someone who'd played such a part in hurting her family.

He sniffed and looked at her sadly "I just want you to know…If I had known she had children…I would never have sold that information, but when Redd White came to the office that day he asked for me to summarize the case I agreed. I even tried to skirt over your mother's part in the tale but he was interested. It's like he was focusing on it…When I was trying to decide whether to tell him or not I was blinded by the glint of gold. He paid me; and quite handsomely too…I think part of me knew that…err he was going to sell it all the press for more than he paid me but I still told him." He now looked straight into her eyes "I'm so sorry. Words cannot describe how much I regret what I did. Especially now I've met you and I realized what I did not only had a large negative impact onto Misty's life but also yours and your sisters".

Mia was quiet now and had been since his story had begun. It was difficult to remember that had Marvin Grossberg not leaked the information to Redd White he would only have gotten it from someone else.

Clearly worried by Mia's silence began "Listen, Mia…If I could turn back the clock…"

"But you can't!" she yelled out suddenly "Can you? I can't believe you'd trade persons _life_; because channelling spirits was her life, for riches and material possessions…that makes me sick!"

Mia was so angry. So angry, apparently, she was ignoring the voice in her head telling her to stop yelling at the man who had the potential to fire her. She felt as though she'd stored all of her feelings on this inside for so long. Being strong for herself, for Maya and now finally faced by the man who'd helped to take her mother from her when she'd been only twelve she was feeling upset and betrayed.

"I'm so sorry...I-I was tricked. You don't understand!" Grossberg stuttered.

"And neither do you!" She shouted standing up "You must have had some inkling the information was for the press?" Mia asked, half shouting and half asking.

"I…was weak and gave in…But please, had I known the trouble and hurt I would cause…I'm sorry…" he begged.

Something in his sad eyes triggered off pity in Mia's heart as he seemed to feel genuine regret for what he'd done. She swallowed still not truly subdued after her angry outburst and yet just about managed to say "I know you are…I'm shouldn't have yelled. I guess I forgot myself." She paused and did what she knew she had to do, "I accept your apology," and she did because that was all she could do. The voice of reason reminded her that shouting at a sorry man wouldn't bring her mother back.

Mia could see the torment and suffering that he had clearly had to endure, dreading the day that he would have to admit what he'd done. Despite all this she knew she could not be around him until she'd completely come to terms with it. And so she left the conversation at that, and walked away.


	11. Hypocritical

**Thanks, thecardboardunicorn :') though, I must warn you, she's strong now, but things generally go downhill I think. :L I'll try to make sure she doesn't get too whiny though. **

**...**

Hypocritical

Mia sighed loudly as she entered her small bungalow. Not that anyone could blame her for this after the first few days of work she'd gone through. She felt almost close to tears; from stress; from sadness, and she couldn't help but think about poor Penny. Obviously this was hardly Mia's hugest regret of things that had come to pass recently and as she changed into her sweats and put her fluffy, brown slippers on she pondered how different she'd be feeling had she not taken State vs. Fawles, or even just stayed at Kurain and trained to become the Master.

This was a fate that instead now belonged to Maya who she knew would be easily capable of achieving it. It seemed very unlikely that her mother would be returning after her reputation had been ruined. Before, Mia had been able to believe that she would someday return but now that tiny ray of hope had been diminished. She missed her mother which was understandable as she'd not seen her in six years.

_All this work to find out what happened to my mum and now I find out there's nothing I can even do about it. I can't find her …Somehow none of this seems worth it. I miss my family; especially Maya…I bet she'd know exactly what to do to cheer me up_. this thought triggered off a sudden wanting to ring her sister. She stood up and walked to the kitchen grabbing her phone and a huge slab of chocolate on the way back to the couch. Maya was on speed dial despite how Mia had not had the phone long. Mia broke of a chunk of chocolate as the phone began to ring and she popped it into her mouth, unfortunately this limited her movement of her mouth.

"Hello?" She heard from the other end of the phone "Who is this?" the voice said somewhat abruptly.

Recognizing the voice she replied "Oh, hi Aunt Morgan."

"Ah Mystic Mia, why I haven't heard from you since you visited to tell us you passed the bar test?" Her aunt sounded friendly, but Mia knew her aunt well enough to know there was an underlying seriousness to what she'd said.

"I'm so sorry, I've had a lot to do recently…I have a job now!" Mia added happily.

"Good to hear, how's that going for you?" Morgan asked.

Mia was slightly unsure of whether to tell the truth now; was it really necessary that she told her Aunt all the misfortunes that had taken place since she _got_ the said job? Deciding it wasn't, she went with the answer "Fine, fine. I'm quite busy actually. Can I have a quick word with Maya?"

"Maya is in training at the moment. I can tell her to ring back you'd like?" she said accommodatingly.

"What? Err no, no it's okay. It was nothing important anyway. Besides I have a lot of paperwork I should be doing now. I'd better go, bye."

"Very well, I'll still tell her you called. Goodbye Mystic Mia."

That was when Mia hung up. _Great so my little sister's too busy to speak to me anymore. __How did I __**get **__here?_ She thought chewing her _Cadbury's_ which was, for the first time ever, failing to cheer her up. Living on her own was proving to be harder than she'd expected. She felt sad and alone and more than anything she felt she needed to keep busy to stop her self thinking about Terry Fawles, Dahlia Hawthorne and even Diego Armando; who she was finding was like a constant reminder. After all he was there through the whole ordeal with her. For some reason thinking of him made her feel angry. Here she was alone eating comfort food (which still wasn't working) and right now he was out with Penny. Albeit he was breaking up with her, which she found was a small comfort. Why should he be so unaffected while she'd been potentially traumatized?

"Well done Mia, by thinking that you feel selfish…" she said out loud. "Just because I'm miserable I want everyone else to be…" she continued, trailing off. Mia groaned. _Great! Now I'm talking to myself…_ she thought as she pressed down the remote to see if there was anything good on TV. She jumped as the phone rang, accepting a little too quickly to be considered cool.

"Hello?" she answered jumpy now for some reason.

"Whoa…err hi?" the voice replied clearly surprised by the speed she had picked up. "Mia?" it asked.

"Yes…Who is this?" Mia asked trying to relax.

There was a pause before "Hi Mia, its Diego Armando; from work."

It was her turn to pause. "How did you get my number?" This wasn't helping her relax. Especially as she'd wondered how he'd got her address as well.

"Oh well, you know, Penny's a sectary and I'm technically "dating" her…" he replied exasperatedly as if he had something else he wanted to discuss.

This did a god job of distracting her "What?" she asked starting to feel borderline angry "I thought you were going to break up with her and _not_ string her along?"

"I'm sorry…It just wasn't happening…I sat her down with a nice meal, hoping to soften the blow and well…It just made it worse. She kept saying how great I was and how much trouble I went to I was about to say...well y'know…let her down gently something like "I'm sorry but I don't want to be in a relationship right now" or "I'm still not over my ex…" I'm sure you've heard the kind of thing before right?"

"Oh, you mean _lies_?" _Hang on . . .what does he mean by that?_ she thought indignantly.

Realizing how bad he sounding saying that he suddenly paused "No, no I didn't mean- I bet people haven't said that kind of thing to _you_. I mean, why would they? You're great; beautiful, clever. I just meant…"

"Get on with the story will you?" she said, knowing full-well he was trying to butter her up for the finale of his story. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this much.

"Well, anyway. In the end I…couldn't do it." he replied hurrying the last part of the sentence "I gotta go now, bye!"

"DON'T YOU DARE HANG UP THE PHONE DIEGO ARMANDO!" she shouted hoping to stun him into doing so by shouting.

After not hearing the beep she continued, "So, you mean to tell me that instead of doing the right thing; and breaking up with her…you did the opposite and decided you'd string her along a little longer?" Mia replied, feeling both irritated and sad; for Penny being used to comfort Diego in this way.

"Kitten, listen. I'm sorry but I can't be such and upstanding moral figure as you are." Diego answered down the phone with a hint of sarcasm "I didn't do the right thing okay? I slipped up…again…"

"Yes, yes you did. So I'm going to tell Penny you kissed her when you _knew_ she liked you. But you didn't care and did it anyway… " Mia paused "Well not exactly like that because that's too harsh…"

"Why can't you just stay out of this? Why do you even care anyway? What are you jealous or something?" he asked heatedly.

"Jealous? That's actually absurd! I've known you what? Four days? I don't think so, more like outraged at how little respect you seem to have for women!" Mia exclaimed, shrilly.

She could hear Diego breathing down the phone, clearly thinking of something to say back "You know what I'm outraged at? That anyone could actually be as bigger busybody as you are! Keep your nose out of my business!" he yelled.

She gulped, this actually had stung her. So she liked helping people. Was that such a bad thing? Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Why couldn't he understand that? Mia knew she had shortcomings, same as anyone else but she had always learnt to work at them herself until they had gone. She knew she'd never be perfect because no one is and yet what Diego had said had hit a raw nerve. She gulped back tears and replied in her steadiest voice, "Fine, if that's what you really want." She flinched realizing that her voice had croaked giving away she was close to crying. Mia hung up ignoring the voice travelling out of the receiver.

"Wait Kitten, I'm sorry, I didn't-" It said as she pressed the red button shutting him out. Clearly he knew he'd hurt her feelings, clearly he expected her to be stronger than this. Perhaps he'd meant it as a small throw-away bitchy comment and he'd not meant it at all? Mia could try and convince herself he'd said it because he was angry but she knew it was true. She'd always had a habit of sticking her nose in where it was not wanted but she didn't need this pointed out to her at such a trying time in her life. Was it perhaps possible that Diego was blaming her for getting him involved with that case? And yet how could Mia not stand up for everything she believed a lawyer should be?

She got up and turned the TV off at the switch and yet found she felt slightly reluctant to go upstairs. Perhaps she did have a habit of attempting to sort out other peoples problems but should she really be criticized for that? And she'd been criticized by, of all people *Diego Armando?*. _He's hardly angelic,_ she thought. _If he has any decency at all, he'll ring up and apologize in a moment._

As time went on, Mia sat there, perhaps half hoping he wouldn't call; so she could scald him for that tomorrow. As the phone finally sounded she let it ring for a moment not wanting to seem as though she was near. Eventually she answered it.

"Hello?" she said biting her lip.

"Hi, it's Maya." the voice replied.

She shook off the slight disappointment that he hadn't called to apologize and answered "Hey Maya, I thought you were channeling?"

"I was…an hour ago…"

_And hour ago? Wow, surely it's not been that long since I rang her. I must have been talking to Diego for age_s "Oh…right." she agreed, frowning a little.

"So anyway sis, what did you want to talk to me about?" Maya asked.

"Oh…that? Oh it was nothing really…just stuff…" she lied. She wasn't exactly in the mood for talking now. It bothered how annoyed she felt that he hadn't ringed to apologize.

Clearly not believing her Maya continued, "Aw, no fair! Tell me, err…about your day? How was it?"

Mia gulped "It was fine…Listen, Maya I have something I thing you ought to know…"

"Ah, see! I knew you rang earlier for a reason. There's no tricking me Mia Fey! I know you much too well!"

"This is very difficult for me to say…" Mia said truthfully. How was she meant to tell Maya what terrible events had befallen their mother? _How do you tell someone something like that over the phone?_ "I…" she felt herself tighten up, chickening out. She just couldn't bring herself to say the words. "I…" she started again "…I'd like…for you to come and stay with me for a few days. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Wow! I'd love to, why did you find that hard to ask though? You know I'd be completely happy to come and see you!"

Mia felt disgusted with herself, she felt like a coward as she knew it wasn't fair to keep something as important as this from Maya; even if she knew Maya would be more hurt than she was. "I know…I just felt nervous in case you were too busy, that's all!"

"No! I can make it in about two weeks, I'll see you then?"

"Of course, it's fine! No problem, Bye then!" She said hastily, beginning to sweat from the dull feeling in her stomach, she knew she had from lying.

"Bye! Love you!" Maya answered sounding overjoyed at the prospect of seeing Mia again.

_I wonder if she'd still want to come if she I was hiding something as big as this from her. It's so lucky Magatamas don't work down phones…_ she though as she hung up, feeling incredibly hypocritical as she realized that perhaps, deep down she was really no different from Diego Armando.


	12. Reconciliation

**RELATIVELY IMPORTANT NOTICE: Okay, not sure if anyone noticed, but there's a chapter missing that I somehow forgot to post, chapter nine to be specific. Uh, this is explained at the top of the chapter, but as soon as I can sort it, which by the time anyone reads this, I should have, the chapter called chapter 9 (hypocrtical) should, rightfully be called chapter 10 instead. **

** So yeah, basically, if you want the story to make sense go read chapter 9. I mean, obviously, you don't have to, because it must make a little sense as no one's said anything. Anyway, sorry about that. Enjoy! :')**

** Also, thanks, Kungu123; it's okay, any reviews at **_**all**_** are very much appreciated ^_^**

Reconciliation

Over the next two weeks Mia's meetings with Diego were very scarce, largely because they were both stubbornly avoiding each other and the few times they were forced to talk, conversation was kept professional and delicately civil as if one of them was scared if it wasn't kept this way, they'd say something they'd regret.

As she wasn't currently talking to Diego who had been the only person she'd have even _slightly_ considered as a friend she found herself eating her lunch alone in her office. Penny would have been good company but it seemed that she now ate up in Diego's room where Mia doubted very much eating took place.

Maya's visit was like a small glimmer of hope for her and found herself really looking forward until she remembered why she was coming and what Mia would be forced to tell her. On the other hand at least Mia could discuss it with someone as she'd been pretty much completely solitary in the last week except for her brief occasional conversations with Penny about how "Everything's going so well with Mr. Arm-Diego! Isn't he just perfect?" She sat pondering this for a moment. Was it possible in all his cowardice and lies that Diego was finding himself falling for Penny or was he just a great actor from being so used to playing that part?

She was disturbed from her daydream by a slow knock at the door, causing her to jump and say "Come in!"

She straightened herself up as Marvin Grossberg waddled through the door with a stack of paperwork.

"Ah, Mia." He said his cheeks slightly pink as if someone had pinched them "I have some cases I need you to look through for Mr. Armando. When you're done summarizing them, just drop them off at his office…Thank you."

Things had become decidedly awkward between them since she had found out about her mother. Though she had calmed down a lot since then she was still finding it rather difficult to forgive him for his past actions, not matter how long ago they were.

"Oh…Thank you…sir." she said almost trying to seem remorseful for shouting at him, after all, he was her boss.

He lingered for a moment and then turned towards the door, apparently changing his mind at the last minute as he walked around in a circle; back facing Mia's desk where Mia sat with her stack of paper work and lunch messily splayed out in front of her.

"Listen…Mia, you didn't purely become a lawyer to come and confront me did you?" he asked inquisitively raising one eye brow.

"No sir, If I'd wanted to do that I'd have just come here and asked you, though I know being a Lawyer has potential to help me to find my mother." she replied matter-of-factly.

Oh, good because…Well I wasn't at your trial the other day and I know you lost and everything…" he stopped realizing what he had just said sounded slightly tactless in the circumstances but then continued "…But your friend Mr. Armando…"

_Friends? Do __**friends**__ shout at each other down the phone and make each other cry?_ she thought, bitterly, before quickly coming to the conclusion that Diego had probably not been left weeping at the end of their argument.

"…Great lawyer, apparently you're strong willed, determined, resolute…" Grossberg continued, obviously unaware that Mia's mind had been lead astray by his description of her and Diego's relationship. She was brought back down to earth as Grossberg coughed loudly and continued.

"Wait, sorry what did you just say? Sorry I didn't catch any of that." she said quickly.

"_I said _that Mr. Armando speaks very highly of you and thinks you have potential to become a great lawyer in that you're strong-willed, determined and resolute."

_Don't all those words mean the same thing?_ she pondered before what he'd actually just said hit her. "Wait…when did he say those things? In like the past tense?" she asked very much doubting that he'd said these thing recently. _I bet he hates me for being such a "busy body"_ she thought bitterly.

"Only the other day." he praised her, knowingly "I happen to agree with him, not about the bad stuff but I really think you could go-"

"What bad stuff?" Mia exclaimed shrilly cutting across Grossberg and clearly catching him off guard.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with…" he trailed off unenthusiastically, looking away.

"No…please, tell me." There was a subtle hinting in her voice as she looked at him as though to say he really owed her this.

He grumbled slightly before giving in "It's nothing _that_ bad…"

"…Yes? Go on…" she prompted.

"Well…he just said that before you could over reach your true potential as a great defence attorney, you have a lot of growing up to do…"

Mia gulped, a little surprised. She had been expecting something a lot worse than that but still, none the less. "Oh. Well maybe he's right. Thank you for telling me." Mia finally answered graciously, surprising herself.

Grossberg's relief that Mia's voice had not turned high pitched and rant-like was evident in his expression "Quite all right. Anyway, must be going now. Work to do and all that…Goodbye." He turned and actually left the room this time. He seemed somewhat more settled than he had when he had entered.

Mia however was left alone again with a bigger pile of paper work than she had on her first day (If that was even possible). She sighed and picked up the first document.

As she approached the very bottom of the stack it suddenly occurred to her why she'd taken nearly all day to finish. After all, once this was done she'd be forced to bring it all up to Diego which posed two problems. The first was that she really wasn't keen on seeing him after such a hard and incredibly boring day. The second that she was unsure of how exactly, she was meant to carry all the papers up to his office alone. Opening the door in preparation before waddling out the door with the work, she headed towards Diego's office.

Knocking proved quite difficult and found she was forced to put them down after several attempts turning around and thumping the door with her back failed. Eventually, when she was successful there was the normal answer of "Come in."

She entered finding she just had to lean against the door and it feel open. The unfortunate side of this was that she lost her balance and fell over dropping all of her papers. Mia got up embarrassedly and Diego walked around his desk to come and help her up.

"I'll manage fine on my own thanks." She said sounding a little haughty as she lent forward and began to gather her papers. Much to her disappointment she found they were now all in disarray and she'd have to start sorting them out ago. Instead of getting up she stubbornly sat cross-legged and began.

"That's not necessary. I'll do it later." He said a little grumpily still standing over her.

Ignoring him, she continued to stack them hoping this organizational job would not take too much of her time up. Especially if it meant sitting on his floor for so long and _especially_ if it meant him standing over her like he was doing.

"Excuse me, did you not hear me? I said I'll do it. You must have better things to do." He said now ordering her, making it sound less and less like the kind gesture it was originally meant as.

"I heard you. But it's my job. So I'll do it." She replied shortly.

"And I heard _you_ but said I'm sure you have _better_ things to do."

"Then you're wrong." She snapped, "Because I don't, but if you're so obsessed with me leaving then fine. You are my superior after all." She climbed to her feet and saw he was still staring at her, even if it was with a rather irritated look. Mia felt her face soften a little remembering what he'd said. Surely it was only polite to thank him.

"I never said that." he said simply.

"Right, you implied it. Anyway…I just wanted to thank you-"

"For what?" he said quickly.

"For- If you'll let me finish, saying that stuff about me having potential. It was nice of you."

"Nice?" Diego raised and eyebrow, "Thank you for thanking me."

"That's okay-"

He shuffled, now breaking eye contact with her "And while we're being civil-"

"Civil? I'm not finished yet. Mr. Grossberg also told me the other thing you said…"

Now Diego looked uncomfortable and seemed to be amusing himself with the papers on the floor.

"I'd also like to thank you for insulting me."

"Wait…what?" Diego said clearly surprised and checking her face for signs of sarcasm.

"I mean it. You said I should grow up. _That_ was not fair; my childhood consisted of a lot of taking care of my little sister. I wouldn't expect you to know this but my mother disappeared when I was twelve and other than my aunt, I had to be like a mother to Maya-"

"In that case you're not really thanking me-"

"-Stop butting in" she said quickly before continuing "However, I feel that growing up and becoming mature are different things. I often _act _grown up but the way I proceed in arguments and situations is often not mature at all, which is why I apologize for not listening to your apology for what you said." She nodded as if this reinforced her argument and waited for Diego to answer.

He nodded back, "Don't you think that the fact you've come here and said this shows a good level of maturity in itself? I also apologize for the way I spoke to you a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have called you a busy-body when you were just trying to help…I'm sure."

"I was. Thanks for apologizing." Mia said. _This conversation is so formal we're starting to sound like robots._ she thought but also very feeling as thought a slight weight had been lifted, now they'd basically made up.

Beginning to feel awkward she started gathering up the papers again. This time Diego joined her and they finally slammed the heavy mass of mismatched files onto his already rather untidy desk.

The two of them made very light and slightly awkward conversation as Diego offered her a drink she was finding it progressively more, and more difficult not to speak of the reason they'd fallen out in the first place.

"So I hear things are now going pretty well for you and Penny?" she said matter-of-factly and also rather randomly.

Diego looked quickly from her to his desk and answered "Yeah, things are working out better than I'd expected. She's a nice girl."

Mia agreed. Penny was a very nice person and had been nothing but welcoming and kind to her since she'd stepped into the office two weeks ago, so why did she have a nagging feeling that this was wrong? "Yes, she is…So do you see things getting serious with her?" She gulped "Is it possible you're falling in love with her?"

Diego shot her a shocked expression "Whoa there! Let's not get carried away. I've only been going out with her for…well, what is it; two weeks?"

"Yes…err true." She granted him. What did it matter to her anyway? "I really am a busy body aren't I?" she thought aloud and unexpectedly.

"What? No, of course you're not." He Argued, "You just like helping people that's all!"

"No…that's not true. I'm so nosey, it's a wonder you can stand being around me at all…" this triggered something off in her mind "Terry Fawles certainly couldn't…" she said sadly.

Diego looked suddenly up at her intensely.

"Maybe if I had just not asked him all those questions…well, who knows?"

"Don't" he said simply "That's a stupid thing to think. You're a lawyer; it's your job to ask questions. Please don't blame yourself, Kitten."

He had a point, she decided. Without the questions she'd have had _no_ hope at all off getting him a not guilty verdict.

"_Kitten?_ Where did that nickname even come from anyway?" she suddenly thought to ask. Diego had just suddenly begun calling her it when he'd been helping her prepare for the trial last week and she'd been such a mess that she seemed to have just accepted it, without questioning.

"Ha…!" he laughed "When you were shuffling the papers on your desk I couldn't help but notice how long your nails are and yet you move your hands so gracefully…"

_Graceful? Well, that's the first time anyone's every said that to me, _She thought. Often she had been renowned for clumsiness.

"…And yet I see how fired up you get in situations. You've got such a fiery temper, so easily embarrassed too…and cute…like a kitten."

"What an…_interesting_ description of me…thank you…I think?" she said pausing a lot and wondering whether or not to be flattered, "It's funny…I used to have a cat when I was little. He was exactly like the one you just described."

"Oh yeah?" he said, gathering more papers together.

So she went on "I loved him…He…wasn't exactly_ mine_, he kind of roamed the village." She laughed "I remember my sister was terrified of him. Of course,_ now_ she loves cats…"

Diego smiled, "What happened to him?"

Now Mia looked down sadly "Well…he used to sit around in our meditating room, I'd always put food out for him. One day, when I called for him he never came. I wish I knew what happened to him…but he just disappeared. I never saw him again. Then again…so do most things in my life; my mother, my cat…"

"I'm sorry to hear about you mother…and your cat" he added.

"Thanks," she smiled weakly at him. "What about your parents?"

"Humph…My mum left when I was ten." He said bitterly.

"Oh I'm sorry." Mia said, not really knowing what to say now.

"I'm not. I hated her, what she did to my family, she cheated, lied to my dad. Every problem I had whilst growing up was down to her."

"Every problem?" she asked.

Diego seemed to think better of the comment and shook his head a little "Well…I don't know, I-I just…I never really understood how she could do that to dad. She completely broke his heart and then just left."

Mia looked at him surprised he was opening up to her "So you're not in touch anymore then?"

He snorted, "Would you be? I think she tried to get in touch a few times but my dad barred the letter. I'm glad he did."

"You don't even wonder what happened to her a little?" Mia found it difficult not to think of her parents, her dad had died a little before her mother had left. She always regretted not making much of an effort to get to know him better. The Fey men tended to stay outside Kurain and as a result of this Mia hadn't seen him as much as she would have liked to. In the time she had spent with him she knew he was a nice man who'd treated her mother well. _Clearly my mother loved him or Maya wouldn't be here today right?_ she thought drifting off into her thoughts.

Resuming the conversation Diego now added "I guess if I'm completely honest…then yes, I do wonder…a bit…" he stopped for moment "Mainly about whether she had another family and if she managed to commit to that or not? I think it would be amazing if there was a bunch of brothers and sisters I'd never met out there…Still, who knows?" They both drifted off into the silence pondering their families. It seemed to them that there truly was no such thing as an ordinary family and if there was neither of them had ever met anyone who had one.


	13. Inexplicably familiar

**Thanks to both AnonyDream and holderoftheheart for the kind reviews :) and you're both very correct, I must have accidentally missed it when editing. Not that I'm making an excuse, I've always had trouble with that spelling for some reason. :L **

**And on to the story . . . **

** Inexplicably Familiar**

The first time she saw him was on Monday morning; by first I mean that it was the first time she'd actually paid great attention to who he was. Once again it was a rainy, cold morning; much like the one where she'd first arrived at Grossberg's office.

In the weekend that had just passed Maya had reached Mia's house happy and chirpy, and so clearly ecstatic to be seeing Mia again, after all this time. Mia also had a feeling she was enjoying such an urban area, she had, after all spent so much of her childhood at Kurain up in the mountains.

Feeling a little jealous of Maya (who she was sure was currently tucked up in bed, asleep.), Mia approached the door but got pushed out of the way by a heavy force; a man dressed in a black shirt and navy blue tie. He looked presentable but now seemed a little flustered as he noticed Mia.

Grabbing her as she fell to the side of the porch Mia stabled herself quickly and looked at him and he suddenly stared at her with a rather unsettled look on his face.

"I-I'm so sorry!" he stuttered "I didn't see you there, my mind was somewhere else."

"Um…It's okay, you work here don't you?" she asked trying to make a little small talk as he so clearly felt awkward after pushing her out of the way. At least she felt a little more awake now.

"Y-yes, that's right and you're…new here, are you?" he asked still not breaking any eye contact with her.

Her cheeks flushed, already pink from the cold. She found it difficult not breaking eye contact with people. Anything she'd been planning to say escaped her and instead she just nodded.

"Ah, we never really got introduced properly; Robert Hammond: Attorney at law." He offered her his hand.

She smiled a little attempting to not show him her discomfort as she held shook his hand back "Mia Fey…uh I guess I'm an attorney at law too." Every time Mia said that she couldn't help feel as though she were lying. She'd passed the bar exam but in her heart she felt more like a spirit medium that a defence lawyer; this was largely due to her first case as her confidence seemed to be at rock bottom.

This wasn't helped by the look on Roberts face as she introduced herself, his eyes grew a little wider and Mia now saw his eyes flash down to her chest.

_Typical,_ she thought, struggling to hide her disgust. While she understood the basic male instinct, she always found it pretty insulting when men's eyes would instantly fall south. One thing she'd always admired about Diego was that he'd never acted so shallowly.

_Though, that could be just because I'm not his type? I mean, I look nothing like Penny . . . he must like blonde women . . . _she thought to herself, before scolding herself for forgetting her company.

She nodded as a way of ending the conversation, now that he'd made her feel uncomfortable, and began to walk away.

"Mia . . . Fey?" he said, as more of a statement than a question. Deciding she had no choice but to turn around she did so.

He looked a little disorientated, _and so he should_, Mia thought, raising her eyebrows.

Shaking his head, he furrowed his brow, "Forgive me, your name just sounded a little . . . familiar. Sorry."

It was strange that he'd thought that too because in the back of her mind she couldn't help but feel as though she'd heard his name before too.

_But where?_ she asked herself, scouring her mind as she sat down at her desk. She heard the door knock but before she had a chance to confirm they could come in, it suddenly opened.

"Surprise!" Maya yelled as she came in, Penny at her side.

"Sorry, Mia-err Ms. Fey, This is your sister, right?" Penny asked.

"Um yeah…she is." She replied, her brow furrowed.

"Good, just thought I'd check…she just turned up at reception asking to see you so err, here she is!" Penny said, before turning and leaving the room.

"Maya…What the hell? What are you doing here?" Mia asked before Maya had a chance to say anything.

"Err…are you surprised?" Maya asked her cheekily, struggling to hide her excitement.

"Hmm" Mia raised her eyebrows. Honestly? She wasn't. This was _just_ the kind of stunt she'd half expected her sister to pull. "A little…" she said, carefully, "Seriously, what are you doing here?"

More than annoyed that her sister had turned up, she was a little embarrassed; now it looked like she had discipline issues with her own sister.

Maya paused to think for a little while "Well…you left without saying goodbye and I wanted to see where you worked, especially as you wouldn't talk about it which just made me more curious…so here I am!" She said this all very fast and walked over and perched on the end of Mia's desk with a huge grin on her face.

"Yes but- Wait, what do you mean I wouldn't talk about work at all?" Mia asked, knowing the answer before she asked the question.

"What I mean is, every time I asked how things were and what it was like working here you changed the subject."

"No, no I didn't. Look, I don't know if there's much for you to do here-" She stated, deciding it was probably best to just deny it and delay having to tell Maya any of the misfortunes that had occurred since she'd began here, and about Misty.

"Look, you just did it again!" Maya observed. She had a point, subconsciously, she did change the subject a lot. "Really sis, what's going on here?"

"Nothing, I'm just doing paperwork, please drop it." Mia now felt guilt bubbling inside of her as she saw her sisters face fall. "Listen…I'm sorry, tell you what...I'll tell you anything you like about here tonight. I'll even cook you a dinner, okay?"

Her sister's face now perked up considerably, "Okay then…What you up to?"

"I already said Maya, paperwork. I have a lot to do."

"So…You're busy then?"

"Yes, very." Mia lied, in truth Mia had been planning a morning of lurking in her office, hoping no one would see her re-reading the case file for the DL.6 incident. It had been a recent decision as ever since she'd met Robert, earlier, she'd been unable to shake the idea he may have been involved.

"So…What should I do all day then?" Maya asked, sadly "I'll have no one to talk to all day…"

"Maya, this is why you should have stayed at mine all day and watched TV." She answered racking her mind for something Maya could help her with.

"Boring…" her sister replied, stringing the word out so it was several syllables longer.

"Right," Mia said irritably "what would you_ like_ to do then?"

"Can I just hang here and chat?" Maya asked, giving Mia the puppy dog eyes look.

"Maya, don't look at me like that! I really have a lot of work to do…but I really can't think of anything for you to do…" She knew Maya could tell she was weakening. "So…I _guess _you can stay, but remember I have to do my work too."

Mia decided that Maya could be like her assistant for the day, she asked Maya to look through her files and tell her the basics of the cases. She absent-mindedly handed a quarter of the piles off her desk and handed them to Maya to look over before realizing she desperately needed the toilet.

"I'll only be a sec, okay Maya?" she said, getting out of her chair.

"Sure…" Maya said, clearly not listening too hard and obviously engrossed in one particular case file.

_This hasn't been so bad. It's actually pretty nice having all this company,_ she thought, as she walked back to her office after visiting the toilets. _It's really taken my mind off everything._ She pushed open the door to see Maya; her mouth slightly agape and holding Mia's most important case file; The DL-6 incident.

"Mia . . . what _is_ this?"


	14. Clearing the air

**Thanks thecardboardunicorn, much appreciated; hope you don't mind the short chapter. If it helps, originally, it was WAY shorter. I actually added quite a lot to the original. **

**Here goes . . . ;D**

**Clearing the air**

Mia felt any colour run out of her cheeks.

"Maya, I . . . " she could barely continue as Maya stared up at her, eyes full of confusion and surprise. "This . . . this was always going to be hard for me to tell you, Maya . . . it might even be for the best that you found out this way. This way I can't back out of telling you again."

"I can't believe this . . ." Was all Maya said as she continued to sit gazing into her lap at the case file; her hair falling, like a curtain across her face.

Neither of them said anything for about two minutes, on Mia's part this was because she was worried Maya was about to start yelling or worse crying. There they both sat in silence. Neither of them knew what the other was thinking and yet it was the exact same thing: Misty Fey.

"I knew she wasn't dead." Maya eventually piped up, breaking the sombre silence, which was something Mia was very grateful for.

Mia looked across at her, willing her to tell her a little more on the subject.

"…Well…I tried to channel her, sometimes again and again…but I could never reach her. I always put it down to my own lousy channelling skills but now it makes sense. People always said she wasn't dead but I thought they were sugar-coating it so I wouldn't cry…But know I know she's not."

"You…tried to channel her?" Mia asked, surprised at this for some reason.

Maya just nodded "I-I really missed her…I still do. I really never got over it and I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to her, but it would've been nice to feel her close to me again."

"But you always seemed so happy…" Mia stated, looking over at her heart-broken sister.

"…What can I say? I'm a good actor. I didn't want to you to worry about me…"

"Maya, I did that anyway…I was meant to take care of you-"

"-And you did." Maya cut across her. "But Mia, northing's the same as having our mother back."

"I know, I never wanted to replace her but…you know I love you just as much as she did and still does." Mia said feeling tears form in her eyes.

"-_More_; you never left like she did."

"Maya…You don't believe that do you?" Mia asked hoping that she didn't. The anger she had felt for her mother before had vanished ever since she'd understood the circumstances of her disappearance. Not that she'd ever felt much anger; in the back of her mind, something always hadn't quite seemed to add up. The woman Mia remembered would never have just left without good reason.

Maya was hesitant in replying but eventually admitted "No, you're right…but Mia, I need you to explain what happened to me, so I can try and understand."

"It's a long story, Maya . . . but I'll try my best." she paused and tried to decide where best to begin. ". . . There was an incident, well, a murder and the police were completely stumped; there were no reliable witnesses and they were at such a loss at what to do that they had no choice but to call in a spirit medium to channel the victim . . ."

Maya nodded, " . . .Our Mum, right?" she had to look of someone who, on one hand, didn't want to hear any more, but on the other, knew they had to listen all the same.

Nodding, Mia looked down at the file. "She gave the name of the man who had committed the murder, but then . . . the police were given a new testimony. The defence attorney got his client to plead temporary insanity and so wasn't arrested."

Maya looked a little blank, "I don't see what was so bad-"

"Don't you see? The police went in a different direction; the murderer wasn't convicted . . . it made out mother look like a sham . . . and then the papers found out."

Playing with her hands now she stared up at Mia, looking her right in the eyes, "This is why you became a lawyer, isn't it?"

"You got it, Maya." she replied, tucking the file back into the cabinet. "I'm going to find the man who did this to her and make him pay, no matter what happens. I mean, can you imagine how different our childhood would have been if it wasn't for him?"

"I . . . I know." she sounded a little hesitant in her response, "J-just be careful though, Mia? He could be really, really dangerous."

But Mia just shook her head, "You know me, Maya. I'm thorough; I'll look after myself, all right? You don't need to worry . . . I'm really sorry I didn't tell you as soon as I found out, Maya."

Half-smiling Maya looked a little tearful, "It's okay . . . I understand that you weren't to know how I might react. Just don't keep anything like that from me again?"

"I won't." she replied, "How can I make this up to you, Maya?"

Still not managing to look completely happy, but looking better than she had a few minutes ago, she smiled cheekily at the floor, "Well . . . there is one thing-"

"Oh, here we go . . ." Mia said, rolling her eyes.

"You have to take me for Burgers tonight!"

"God Maya, you and your burgers," She knew it was partly an act, especially now she could see that her sister was far better an concealing hurt than she'd thought and there was no way she'd genuinely bounced back this quickly. All the same, it was nice to see her smile again, "Fine, it's a deal. No desert though."

"Aww-"

"Just kidding. I am trying to make it up to you, after all. How could I do that with out desert?"


	15. Important realisations

**Thanks holderoftheheart, your reviews very much appreciated. Glad you were laughing by the end. :) **

**Here's chapter fifteen. **

**Important realisations**

Eventually the moment passed and the day at Mia's office ended. In many ways the day had been a sad one in that Maya had finally found out what happened to her mother. Mia had also explained her plan of discovering whose fault it was; she'd already tracked Grossberg down and Redd White was in progress; but proving a little more difficult to find.

"Well Maya, I've actually had a pretty good day, I _was_ a bit bothered about you coming here but you've been no trouble at all." Mia said to her sister, as she turned around to lock her office for the night.

Maya laughed, "Yeah, no trouble at all except for looking through all your case files, knocking over your tea and eating all your biscuits."

Mia couldn't help but smile at this, while it was true that Maya had done quite a few things that had annoyed her slightly it had been wonderful to spend the day with her sister, despite her messy tenancies and clumsiness . "Okay, true but we still had fun right?" Mia asked as they walked down the corridor, both of them smiling..

"Of course, if you forget all that stuff about Mum…" Mia now saw Maya's smile fade a little.

"I know…I'm still sorry you found out like that. I was just so unsure of how to tell you and trying to get my head around it at the same time." Mia glanced up and nodded as Robert Hammond passed them quickly, his briefcase swaying back and forth in his haste. He acknowledged her too with a small nod which she returned.

Neither Mia nor Maya said anything for a moment, Mia knowing it was inevitable that Maya would instantly ask who he was once they were out of earshot.

Maya did not disappoint with her next question: "So who was he?"

"He's just an attorney who works here. I don't even know him that well, we only met this morning." She replied, knowing Maya's next question would be an immature one asking if Mia fancied him or not.

"So, do you like him?" Maya asked her, once again not disappointing Mia's expectations. "You've gone red."

"Of course I don't Maya! Like I said, I barely know him." She chose to ignore Maya's comment about her cheeks. Especially as they'd only turned that colour because of the area his eyes had darted to this morning. "Oh _and_ he's a colleague!" she added in a professional manner trying to nip Maya's rather inappropriate comment in the bud.

"Ooooh, sure." Maya said before turning and doing a rather obvious wink "You turn red for no reason."

"Who's turning red?" a voice from behind butted in.

"Mia is!" Maya said turning round to face Mr. Armando who Mia could only assume had been listening for a while but had chosen to not make his presence known.

_Typical, _she thought, _he would turn up in the middle of a conversation like this one. _Mia stopped and chose not to turn around as her cheeks grew redder (if that was possible).

"Who's an eve's dropper now?" She asked, with a hint of smugness coming through, though she knew it would not bother him. After all, it would be awfully hypocritical of him to mind.

"How do you know that it wasn't a rhetorical question for myself? It seems you're the eve's dropper for answering." Diego replied, not even trying to hide how pleased he was with himself.

"Ha, very clever. You just walk around asking "Who's turning red" to no one, obviously. Silly me." Mia said, shooting Maya a look for laughing at his comeback. "You got me, I guess." She now grabbed Mia's arm not wanting to prolong the conversation. If Maya's giggling was anything to go by, uncomfortable questions would be asked once she and her sister were alone again.

He grinned boyishly at them both as the three of them stood out of the pavement of the law firm in what had now become rather sunny weather.

"Of course I do…Well except the fact I _was_ eve's drooping so go on, what's your sister blushing at?" he asked Maya, despite Mia's presence.

"Robert Hammond walked past and her cheeks went red." Maya replied smiling back up at him. "You know…I swear I've heard his name before."

Silently cursing Maya's betrayal in her head Mia now glanced at her sister realizing she'd the exact same feeling when meeting him. "Thanks for that Maya, and I had that feeling too…"

"Perhaps you both frolicked with the gorgeous Mr. Hammond in some perfect dream you both had? He is the most dreamiest of lawyers, after all." Diego suggested, one eyebrow raised, clearly enjoying this.

.

"Yes, very amusing _and helpful_." Mia added, restraining her laugh. She couldn't possibly let him know she found his cool sense of sarcasm amusing at a time like this.

"Well, the chances are-" he began "-You heard about some case where he defended. Yes, that's right: Not only is he a fine specimen of a man" he said, shooting them both a significant look, "but also a rather excellent attorney. I mean, I can't say I particularly like his, but he's good at his job. He did…let me think…SL-5, DL-2, DL-6, though these are just cases off the top of my head."

"Wait, DL-6?" Mia asked, ignoring his sarcastic comments "He was the attorney for that case?"

Diego, noticing her tone and dropping the sarcasm replied, "I'm pretty sure he was, yeah."

Mia's eyes unfocused as the relevancy of this occurred only to her. Maya had likely forgotten the name of the case where her mother had channelled. Mia however, had not. Deciding not to show her emotions at this point, she looked over at Maya.

"We've really got to get going okay?" she said, but to both of them. "I'll see you tomorrow." Mia directed at Diego, fighting the urge to run back inside and see if she was in fact correct. Could the man who'd hand she's shook only this morning, be the same man who'd ruined her Mother's life? How could he look her in the eye after doing that?

_Except he didn't, _a voice in her head corrected her. This was entirely true she realized; as soon as he'd learnt who she was his eyes had flashed to her chest. _That's no better really though is it? _The voice said again, also rightly. She looked down, her eyes skirting around the collar of her shirt before moving across to- _My Magatama _she thought, _He wasn't looking at my chest; he just recognized it after seeing my mothers all those years ago._


End file.
